Michelle Goldberg blogs (with video):
In 2005, the Kenyan preacher Thomas Muthee stood on the stage of Alaska’s Wasilla Assembly of God and called on Christians to take over the world’s economic system. “The Bible says that the wealth of the wicked is stored up for the righteous. It’s high time that we have top Christian businessmen, businesswomen, bankers, you know, who are men and women of integrity running the economics of our nations,” he said, his remarks captured in recently unearthed video footage. Then he continued: “If you look at the – you know – if you look at the Israelites, that’s how they work. And that’s how they are, even today.”
It’s seems pretty clear that Muthee was alluding to Jewish control over global finance. But if Sarah Palin objected, she certainly didn’t show it when, a few minutes later, she joined him on stage. There, as she bowed her head and turned her palms toward heaven, Muthee laid hands on her and beseeched God to pump money into her gubernatorial campaign coffers.
I don’t really hold this one specific incident against Palin; it’s possible that she didn’t understand the allusion to Israel, or that she didn’t feel sure enough of what he meant to make a fuss, or that she was paying attention to something else at that moment and didn’t hear it.
(Or maybe she understood it as an allusion to how great us Jews are with money, and agreed. But I feel obliged to give her some benefit of the doubt).
What does bother me, of course, is the double-standard. If Obama’s preacher had said these same words, moments before Obama walked up onto stage to receive a blessing from him, that would have dominated Foxnews for a solid week. And it probably would hurt Obama’s chances with at least some Jewish voters.
Actually, no, it’s not at all clear. Without additional background on Muthee (i.e., whether he has a record of making antisemitic comments), I would assume that he means that in Israel the businesses and financial institutions are generally run by practicing Jews. I don’t know whether that’s true, but that’s how I would interpret it. On the other hand, we’re talking about someone who apparently believes in witchcraft, so who knows what else he believes?
Brandon, I think you’re being far too generous. Here’s a little story about a much more recent visitor to Palin’s church:
(link)
I don’t consider attempting to convert Jews, by itself, anti-Semitic. (Of course, deceptive or unfair tactics could still be unfair).
I do consider the idea that Jews need to be converted, in order to avoid being justly burned in Hell for eternity, extremely anti-Semitic. (Although I realize it’s not anti-Semitic exclusively.)
I find the idea that when other human beings hurt you it’s because of God’s judgement on your [insert group here] entirely odious whoever’s saying it about whoever.
Brandon, the tip-off as far as I’m concerned is that the pastor said “Israelites” (scriptural, historical term) as opposed to “Israelis” (citizens of a nation-state). Especially when combined with the parenthetical “you know” (meaning “there’s a word I can’t use here, so I’m going to use something else as a placeholder). It’s not paranoia; this is what English majors do.
Amp:
Indeed.
Muthee gets invited to speak at churches *because* of his work driving a “witch” out of a village, not in spite of it or without knowledge of it. His video about the experience is so famous in certain religious circles that the CS Monitor wrote about it in 1999, and he was the topic of a WorldNetDaily article in 2005 that praised him for getting rid of a witch. Donohue from the Catholic League says witchcraft is a “sad reality” in Africa.
I’m OK with people’s expressing their faith in the words appropriate to their culture, but Muthee has proven through actions to be an irrational man who will target vulnerable women in order to increase his power and convert uneducated people to Christianity. I don’t care what people believe happens to them after death, but I am very troubled by the idea of having a vice president who believes that people have the ability to affect physical reality — e.g., cause car accidents — through “witchcraft.”
I do think targeting Jews for conversion has a tinge of anti-Semitism. Non-coercive evangelism is perfectly acceptable and I am sick over the Hindu mobs in India that are killing Christians because they believe India must be a “Hindu nation.” But if Christians look at Jews as somehow especially in need of saving — as opposed to treating them just like every other heathen non-Christian out there — Jews legitimately can wonder why their religious status is of particular concern.